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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can one be Catholic or Jewish or whatever and still believe in no afterlife?[/quote]

I'm not Jewish but I've been to a number of Jewish funerals and noticed that there was no discussion of an afterlife.[/quote]

That's right. Christians keep harping about an afterlife. We Jews don't talk about it. Maybe there is one, maybe not. Christians are always saying that we must act morally because that's how to get to Heaven. If you act immorally, you go to Hell. To a Jew, that makes no sense. Jews believe that one must act morally because it's the right thing to do. If you're acting morally simply because you're afraid that if you don't, you will burn in Hell for eternity, that doesn't make you a moral person. It makes you a person acting out of self interest. [/quote]

This is not Christianity.  In Christianity, God's love for us is so overwhelming and perfect, there is nothing we can do to earn it.  You don't go to heaven or hell because of what you DO.  It is impossible to do enough to enter the Kingdom of God - God is perfect and we are not.  Christ poured out his love for us to the point of death.  We are so grateful for that, we naturally try to imitate our Lord (and brother) Christ.  Of course we fall short, but we attempt do good in imitation of God.[/quote]

That may be the focus of some forms of Christianity, but other, more fundamentalist forms, focus on getting saved to make it into heaven[/quote]

Actually, not being able to earn your way into heaven is the focus of the New Testament.  All traditional, orthodox strands of Christianity would adhere to this belief.   "Earning your way into heaven" is heresy.  [/quote]

That is one interpretation.  Other strands of Christianity do not see it that way.  Perhaps that's the reason there are so many denominations.  People disagree over something and form a new group of people, ad infinitum.[/quote]

That's a complex issue. There is a huge difference between Catholic theology and Catholic practice. In Catholic practice,  one confesses one's sins to a priest who recommends acts of penance. But in Catholic theology, acts can't help you get to Heaven. Only divine grace can do that. Similarly, Catholic Churches have collection boxes for the souls in Purgatory. But[b] in Catholic theology, there is no Purgatory.[/b] [/quote]

In Catholic Sunday school, there is definitely a purgatory[/quote]

I know. That's my point. The way that Catholicism is taught to children is very different from Catholic theology. [/quote]

That's only one of the differences between Catholic theology and Catholic practice. Catholic theology used to include a Purgatory, but not for a long time. Yet children are still taught that there is a Purgatory. Another example is the treatment of Mary Magdelene, who is mentioned more often in the Gospels than most of the apostles. The language of the original Greek makes it clear that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' wife. But in the sixth century, Pope Gregory wanted Jesus to be thought of as celibate. He proclaimed that Mary Magdelene was the prostitute mentioned in the Gospel according to Luke, even though it's clear from the text that Mary Magdelene and the prostitute are two different people. This contributed to the split between the Western Church who would accept whatever Pope Gregory said, and the Eastern Church which never believed that Mary Magdelene was a prostitute. Finally, in 1969, the Catholic Church announced that Pope Gregory was wrong and Mary Magdelene was never a prostitute. Nevertheless, even though Catholic theology has changed, Catholic practice has not, and young Catholics are still taught that she was a prostitute. [/quote]

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